It was a beautiful day in leafy Studley, the adopted home of Bromsgrove Sporting as the new club, some four and a half years in the making, made their home league debut against Chelmsley Town watched by a healthy crowd of 116 who witnessed some fine play throughout the afternoon.
Sporting were soon on the attack with a corner on 4 minutes which was played in short to Zac Blood whose cross was met the head of the stretching Michael Woolman and the ball cleared the bar. Blood was pulled up for a foul on keeper Chris Blaxland with an aerial challenge then Town won a corner and that was put out for another but play quickly switched to the other end of the pitch where an error by a Chelmsley defender gave Shaun Maynard the opportunity to volley a splendid shot that Blaxland tipped the ball over the bar at full stretch. Following two more corners for Town, Chelmsley took the lead on 27 minutes after neat interplay saw Jason Powell shoot beyond Chris Mole in the home goal into the far corner of the net.
Sporting�s passing football won a corner within sixty seconds and Blood sent it short to Aaron Roberts whose goal bound effort was deflected over the bar then Blood crossed for Ryan Molesworth who directed his header a fraction wide, Town reminded their hosts they were still in the game as striker Junior Brown angled a shot past Mole but also the far post. Bromsgrove were close to levelling the scores on 41 minutes when Tonn Adcock ran back to hook the ball off the line after Blaxland had been cleverly lobbed and the half ended with Mole hanging on to a cross from Mark Foster under pressure.
The half time pep talk by Bromsgrove�s manager Myles Day had the desired effect as Chelmsley were pushed further back but a break out of defence saw Powell beat his marker only for his shot to drift over the bar. As Sporting raised their game, the supporters also became more vocal as Blaxland dived full length to save from the industrious Woolman and a needless free kick on an attacker brought the Rouslers the equaliser on 56 minutes when Roberts shot found its way past the wall and yet another silly foul put Sporting ahead, Roberts free kick saw Maynard head home.
Once again Blaxland was under severe pressure collecting a cross from Blood and on 76 minutes, Brown was manhandled by home skipper Richard Griffiths and Mole dropped the ball from the resultant kick as the defence scrambled it out for a corner which Foster crossed to Brown who flicked on for Powell whose header was cleared off the line. A free kick by Nick Allen saw Blood hit a shot that scraped some paint off the bar and finally Bromsgrove ended the game on attack as Maynard crossed to Woolman and his diving header was just over the angle of post and bar.
Referee Mike Elliott and his assistants John Bousfield and Mark Powell had little to do as the players largely policed themselves apart from a flash of handbags that was over as soon as it began and the proceedings were also, remarkably, free of bad language which is a tribute to both sets of managerial staff.
Bromsgrove Sporting � 1 Chris Mole; 2 Chris Bright; 3 Gareth Rogers (Sander Milicev 86); 4 Aaron Roberts (Neil Cooksey 90); 5 Richard Griffiths captain; 6 Nick Allen; 7 Ryan Molesworth (James McKeown 88); 8 Jamie Rogers; 9 Michael Woolman; 10 Shaun Maynard; 11 Zac Blood
Unused subs � Stewart James and James Bradley.
Chelmsley Town � 1 Chris Blaxland; 2 Scott Parker captain; 3 Tonn Adcock (Curtis Walters 88); 4 Warren Perks; 5 Darryl Harris; 6 James Sawyer; 7 Jason Powell; 8 Scott Hewitt (Reiss Francis 79); 9 Junior Brown; 10 Phillip Wright (Michael Perry 60); 11 Mark Foster
Unused subs � Craig Humphries and Oliver Burton.
Men of the match � Bromsgrove Sporting; Nick Allen and Chelmsley Town; Warren Perks
Bookings � Bromsgrove; Aaron Roberts - Chelmsley; Phillip Wright, Scott Hewitt |